Save the date

Ok prayer warriors, I've got a new specific prayer request for you. I will have a scan on Monday, May 3 to check to see if we've made any progress against the beast. I'll see my oncologist the very next day for the results.

Nothing really exciting to report from my visit to the doctor today. She was suitably impressed with my ability to handle the horrific side effects most people seem to get from these drugs. I attribute this to all of you who have been praying for me. God has answered the "minimal side effects" prayers for sure. Keep them coming!

She did suggest something new to try for my mouth sores -- club soda. Apparently the carbonation in club soda helps for some reason with this specific type of sores. We'll give it a try.

That's it for now. Thanks for everything. I am feelin' the love!

Still kickin'

We're back from a fun but exhausting trip to Orlando for spring break. It turns out my "off week" from chemo was only a week off from taking pills, not from the side effects, which are still lingering on. But I was still able to have fun and enjoy myself so life is good!

I start my second three-week cycle of chemo (two weeks on and one week off) tomorrow. I still have some mouth sores that have not healed but they are definitely not as bad as they were this time last week. The first week of chemo wasn't too bad last time, so I'm hopeful it will be the same this time.

I'm seeing my oncologist on Tuesday just to check in and for her to gauge how well I am tolerating the meds. She seemed pretty concerned at the outset about the severity of side effects. But I am not interested in dropping the dosage (which is the only way to lessen most of the side effects, apparently), so ... will keep powering on.

Next step after completing this three-week cycle will be a PET scan to check on our progress.

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers.

HAPPY SPRING!